Palm Springs, California

At 50770 Seminole Drive in Cabazon, California, just west of Palm Springs along Interstate 10, two giant concrete dinosaurs loom over the freeway. The bigger one, 'Dinny,' is a 150-foot-long Apatosaurus that took sculptor Claude Bell eleven years to build (he began in 1964, finished in 1975). His companion 'Mr. Rex' is a 65-foot Tyrannosaurus started in 1981. Bell, a Knott's Berry Farm sculptor, was inspired by Lucy the Elephant on the Atlantic City boardwalk and used steel and cement salvaged from a flood-damaged freeway project. Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985) filmed here, cementing the dinosaurs' pop-culture fame; after Paul Reubens died in 2023, Mr. Rex was briefly repainted in Pee-wee's grey tux and red bow tie. Bell died in 1988 before adding the prehistoric park he'd envisioned.